This month, we discuss United States v. Zangari,1 in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in a matter of first impression in this circuit, held that restitution paid by a criminal defendant must be based on the victim’s loss rather than the defendant’s gain. The court’s opinion was written by Judge José A. Cabranes, with Judges Rosemary S. Pooler and Richard C. Wesley joining the opinion. In its opinion, the court construed the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA),2 the federal statute that delineates a federal district court’s power to order restitution in criminal cases. After reviewing the relevant provisions of the MVRA and decisions from seven of its sister circuits addressing the same question, the court concluded that the MVRA requires that restitution be calculated with reference to the victim’s actual loss.

Background

In April 2010, Salvatore Zangari pled guilty to an information charging him with participating in a conspiracy to defraud participants in securities lending transactions. Zangari had worked as a broker for eight years in the securities-lending departments of Morgan Stanley and, later, Bank of America. In that role, Zangari received illicit cash kickbacks totaling tens of thousands of dollars from sham finder’s fees paid by the parties to transactions he had arranged.3

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]